Petit Jean State Park

We got to Petit Jean State Park on Sunday, set up camp, had dinner, read and turned in listening to the Cardinals and Red Sox.  We didn't stay tuned until the end and didn't know the results until Monday morning.   Sorry Cards....

Monday we got out hiked, and ate a nice lunch at the Mather Lodge.  The dining room has large windows with an expansive view.    They had a nice buffet, with excellent food.  A bit pricey for a lunch, but well worth it, due to the quality of the food, and the views from the restaurant.

We then went to an auto museum  located just outside the park, and saw old cars.  They had a Ford Fairlane pickup once owned by Elvis and a Lincoln Continental convertible that Ford loaned to JFK for his personal use.  The car was kept in Hyannis Port and Kennedy drove it when on holiday.

We took a nice hike as well,  which was rated as easy to moderate.  Ginnie thought that was a bit understated, as she really doesn't like climbing, and there were quite a few ups and downs.

After consulting the weather, we decided to cut our stay short and head home Tuesday, which we did.  I am typing this up from home.  We've unloaded the camper, started laundry, turned on the furnace and water heaters,  picked up our mail, polished off some chocolate and had a beer.

I passed one of these as I walked to grade school many years ago.  I thought it was the coolest car I had ever seen.

Willys Jeepster

 This is the coolest car in the Museum, and might  be one of the coolest cars I've ever seen.  Certainly better than the Jeepster... what I didn't know when I was 11 years old.

Mercedes Benze 500-K Cabriolet

Auburn Boat Tail.  A real speed wagon

On the trail in the Park

Trick or Treat II

Here are a few pics from the Trick or Treat goings on Saturday night.  As we were camping we were able to walk around before the general admission began.  Everyone was having a good time.   This is the second time this event has been done.   Last year, the first, they tell us they were overwhelmed with the response, making runs to Walmart 20 miles away for more candy.  They had 1,000 kids and were overwhelmed.  They claim to be prepared this year and from what we saw they were prepared and had some great looking spook houses for the kids.

Knights of Columbus offering dogs and brats. 

Super Hero

Pretty good Tin man, Cowardly Lion staying back

Duck Dynasty is everywhere this year

Here they come!

After touring and watching the gates open at 6pm, we retreated to our camper and spent our usual quiet evening reading and I turned in early, way before 8pm.  I slept until 6 the next morning.  We went to Church in Wynne, AR and saw a couple of the Knights that were doing the dogs and brats.  All in all, Cross County, AR and Wynne, AR are pretty nice places, friendly folks and great for families.

Now we are in Petit Jean State Park for three nights, then we head home on Wednesday.  It seems like a nice park and I get three bars of 4G lte.  So, all is well with the world, we can keep up with that's going on.  The Chiefs won again 8-0!  Go Chiefs.    Also the Cards are doing great.  7pm game tonight, and don't know if we can hear it on our radio or not.   If we can't hear it, we'll be checking the internet for updates.  That's all for now.

Trick or Treat?

We arrived at Village Creek State Park in Arkansas on Wednesday.  We chose this park largely because they advertised hiking trails and also had sites that we could reserve over the weekend.  That's a rarity, as families come out on the weekends.  We felt lucky to get in at this late date.

When we arrived we learned that the campground where we are going to be is hosting an annual Halloween event, somewhere between 1 and 2 thousand attend each year for the Fun, Fun, Fun!!!  We'll see how much fun it is as we are completely unprepared for trick or treaters.  Ginnie says they wont find anyone home as we will be out trick or treating ourselves.

I'll try to take some pics during the event.  In any case our plans for concluding our trip have finally gelled.  We leave here after Church Services in Wynne, AR (The City with a Smile) on Sunday and drive to Petit Jean State Park for three nights.  Then home on Wednesday.

Moving West

Tuesday morning and we plan on taking two days to drive to a park in eastern Arkansas.  I looked at a map, checking the route through Nashville. Past experience driving north from Florida has taught that NV is a bugger to drive through. The reason became clear when I realized that the major routes, north/south and east/west actually merge and in one short mile those going west must exchange lanes with those going north who want to move in to the lane you are trying to leave.  Of course impatient drivers only want to pass every one. I'm getting tense just thinking about it. If we survive the drive today we likely will spend the night at a Walmart in Jackson, TN.

Sam's Club Parking Lot, Cheddars nearby

We survived the drive, Navigator Ginnie suggested we take 840 which we did.  It was great, almost no traffic so we breezed along.  Taking the loop added17 miles to the trip, but according to Miss Garmin, we lost no time.  We passed by Bucksnort, Tennessee, but didn't stop to check it out.  According to Wikipedia a few professional wrestlers might live there... we don't know as we weren't that curious.

Now we are parked on a level site at a Sam's Club, as the picture attests.  Shortly we head for dinner at a Cheddars.  With thanks to Nancy for introducing us to this great chain restaurant.  Tomorrow will find us back in Arkansas, which is only 82 miles west.

Lazing in Tennessee

It's Monday morning, the Chiefs are victorious once again, by the skin of their teeth, and we are enjoying Tennessee. We are scrapping our plan to play tourist in Nashville and are staying an extra day where we are, Cumberland Mountains State Park. The park has some nice trails for hikes, a restaurant, and a nice laid back ambiance which suits us very well. Today is for more walks, soaking up sunshine, reading and making a "plan" for where we head next. Maybe I will add some pictures to my posts. I have been taking pictures but they are on my camera and I am using my tablet instead of the Mac for blog posts.  I keep thinking that I will get out the Mac and upload some pics, but I never get around to it. Am I lazy or what?

I wonder what this will be?

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Typical of the trail

A little fall color

Fishing, Quiet, Shhhh

Big tree growing on top of a rock ledge...

Suspension Bridge

Cumberland Mountain State Park

We are here for two nights, leaving for Nashville on Monday morning. We spent one night at Black Panther State Park, getting a load of laundry done. Otherwise the stay was a waste, better spent at a Walmart as we did nothing except eat, read and spend the night sleeping.

Tennessee parks, judging by our limited experience feature small campsites close together. The bath houses are older and showers suffer from a lack of hooks which always makes for fun hanging your clothes and towel.  Its cooling off and windy as I write this.  Our weekly church service will be at 5pm today,  only 15 minutes away.
We are talking about playing tourist in Nashville as we have only driven through before as we drove between Florida and Kansas.  I'm searching for parks now and there appears to be an Army Corps Camp close to Nville.
Nashville is only about 100 miles further west and would make for a short drive on Monday.  Sounds good to me.

Stone Bridge and Dam

Face of the Dam with spillways

The stone bridge and dam were constructed by the CCC.  The arches remind me of the Roman Aqueducts.   A restaurant overlooks the bridge,  a nice restaurant within the park, and thronged on Sunday by the local Church goers.  We skipped lunch with the mob and came back for dinner.  They have a decent buffet,  typical homestyle cooking, and had beef ribs which were very tender.

Along the trail in the Park

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Eagle Scout Project crossing small creek 

MOVING WEST

We had a nice visit with Jane. Sunday we attended her church, which I look forward to because of the Priest, Father Jim. Father Jim is so full of energy, just in constant motion, never pausing for a breath.  He conducts the Mass and simultaneously narrates,  pauses, does "timeouts" to explain, and then returns to the familiar structure.  Its magic to see and I love every minute of it. If only I could say that about our services at home.
Sunday was football and I followed the Chiefs as they won again.  The cardinals also were watched as they won two at home, dropped the third game in LA.

We left Wednesday for Hanging Rock State Park in NC.  Just 100 mile drive so we had plenty of time to set up camp and take a short hike.  Ginnie almost stepped on a copperhead snake, but saw it just in time to avoid it.  The snakes coloration blends perfectly with the leaf litter. She really was lucky to avoid stepping on the snake.
Thursday was mostly drizzle all day so we spent most of the day reading and taking naps. We found a spot where we could get internet and caught the results of the Cardinals game. Now leading 3-1. Go Cards.

Friday morning we hitched up and headed for Tennessee. More later.

Nice Snake, just catching some afternoon sun!

Nice waterfall, after a short hike in the rain

Rainy and Wet Virginia

Here we are at Jane's place.   She has such a comfortable home now.  The construction/remodeling that we first saw two years ago has mellowed into a great and comfortable personal space.  Kudos to Jane on a job well done.

We arrived here on Saturday, and found our Nephew Wally, Niece Ellen and Mark along with Tyler and his buddy Dillon.  Mark invited us to attend an annual extended family affair that was going on later Saturday afternoon.  Mark told us that we were invited to partake of Brunswick Stew prepared by his Mother's Cousin Leonard Brown.  Sounded good to us, so at the appointed time, off we went.

I was completely unprepared for the scale of this event, as I'm sure that over 100 "family" were fed over the course of the afternoon.

Friends and Family enjoying hospitality

Being from a small family, I can only say how envious I am of Mark and Ellen and their large extended family.  Lovely and warm people who made us feel welcome.

Backing up a bit, we had a nice visit with Herb and Caroline Jukes in their new home in Bowling Green.  Having some experience in moving, we were pleased to find that Herb and Caroline survived the move with something approaching ease, and are in the midst of becoming comfortably settled.   Caroline, an Alzheimer's victim, maintains her sense of humor.  Good to see.

Friday, we pulled up stakes and decided to drive until we were tired, and then find a Walmart to park overnight.  We did this, spending the night at a a Super Walmart in Bristol, Virginia.  It was easy peasy.  We checked with the greeter for permission and were told to park out of the way by the automotive center.  We walked around the store, bought a new Atlas and picked up dinner from the Deli.  A few hours reading and we turned in early.  When we woke up Thursday morning, we had two other RV's snugged up beside us.  Free camping, the convenience of a full service Walmart steps away beats $45 at a KOA hands down.

We are spending a lazy Sunday afternoon with football games on.  I followed the Chiefs game on the internet.  6-0!  Go Chiefs.

Rally at Devil's Den and beyond

Today is Thursday October 10, and we woke up in a KOA in Bowling Green Kentucky. Our trip timeline was five nights at Devil's Den, two at Lake Charles State Park in Arkansas, and one at the Bowling Green KOA.

The rally, Aliner and Chalet owners, for the LOKAT region, was lots of fun, with most attending being of the outgoing and friendly type.  It appeared that first time attendees like ourselves were in the vast minority, with lots of friendships already in place and lots of catching up.  Food and good times were in abundance.  The organizers, the Picards and the Colglaziers, plus region director Richard Larson and Betty are big fans of Dutch Oven cooking.  They demonstrated their skills and fed us well at the afternoon high teas.

Cinnamon rolls in the dutch oven

Jeanne, Roy, Ginnie and Dan

Gwen, John and Dick in foreground

John, Gwen, Jeanne, Dick and Ginnie

Plotters

Good stuff cooking on the fire tables

Aliners

More Aliners

Following the rally we headed east, with Jane in Virginia being our ultimate destination.  We spent most of Monday driving east and north to Lake Charles State Park in Arkansas.  The little park was perfect, with only a couple tenting as company in our camping loop.  It was quiet, and peaceful.  The weather was perfect and we spent two nights.  We walked trails for a couple of miles and attempted to make french onion soup in the crockpot.  Jeanne Colglazier had prepared the onion soup for us in her dutch oven.  It was marvelous and appeared very simple to prepared.  Our variation in the crockpot was good, but not up to the dutch oven variety.  We will try again at home in the oven.

Thursday finds us in a KOA in Bowling Green Kentucky, after deciding not to camp at the "campground from hell" Kenlake State Park.  Tiny campsites, crowded, with kids riding around on ATV's.  I heard banjos in the background.  We made a quick lap, looking for a campsite and got out as quickly as we could.

We made contact with Herb and Caroline Jukes who recently moved to Bowling Green and will visit with them a bit today.  Laundry also raises it's head, needing attending to.  KOA's are good for laundry if not much else.

The trip begins amidst the Goverment Shutdown

Tomorrow we drive south about 45 miles to Devil's Den State Park to participate in an Aliner Rally of the LOKAT's, that's for Aliner owners from Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas.  This is our first owner rally and should be fun and interesting to meet others who enjoy getting out and about with our unique little campers.

We planned to start our traditional fall trip with the rally and then meander toward Virginia where Ginnie's sister Jane lives.  We will have some restrictions due to the Goverment Shutdown closing all federal facilities, which include all the campgrounds in National forests and Corps of Engineer facilities.  Bummer... I called my Congressman's office and asked where I could camp in Arkansas.  I was told that they couldn't help me, and I responded with, "Yes you can, just do your effin job."  I would make an educated guess that most of the public campgrounds in Arkansas are federal, and as a result our choices are going to very limited as to where we can stay.  Naturally this problem isn't going to be experienced only in Arkansas, but in Missouri, Kentucky, N. Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia as well.
Again, Bummer...